


The Demon Parading as Shane Madej

by theanonymousj



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Demon Shane Madej, Demons, Friends to Lovers, M/M, glad that's a tag, idk - Freeform, ummmm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-02-27 07:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13243659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theanonymousj/pseuds/theanonymousj
Summary: After several centuries of torturing souls and ruining lives, a demon possesses the vessel of one Shane Madej and begins to lead a more domestic, less evil life. And then one day he discovers emotion and finds himself roped into Ryan Bergara's big new project: Buzzfeed Unsolved.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of things:
> 
> 1) I have asked Ryan and Shane on the Instagram if they mind us writing fanfics about them. They haven't responded. If they decide they don't want fanfic written about them I won't hesitate to delete this, but until that point I guess it's fair game, right?
> 
> 2) I make no promises I'll ever complete this work, but I'm more likely to put the effort in to finishing it if you comment and tell me that's what you want.

“So, uh, what do you think?”

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck as the video ended, expression mostly unreadable but for the nervousness behind his eyes. Shane nodded, pulling his headphones down around his neck and swivelling in his chair to face his colleague.

“It’s really good content. I’m not surprised you have the go ahead to turn this into a full blown series.”

With a sigh of relief Ryan collapsed into the chair next to Shane, “well then I have something to ask you.”

“Okay.”

“I really saw myself doing this project with someone else, right? I’ve got really big plans for this series, and I want to use it to investigate all sorts of stuff, not just true crime – I’m talking superstitions and aliens and ghosts! This could be the break I’ve been waiting for since I joined Buzzfeed and this show has so much potential. But without a sort of sceptical sidekick to co-host it with me I’m at a loss. And with Brent moving to a different team the whole Unsolved project is about to be left in the dust.”

“I reckon Jen would do it.”

“Huh?” Ryan looked a little confused, as if Shane had just answered him in another language.

“Jen would do it. You two work well on and off screen. Or Steven Lim – you two don’t work together much but I reckon you’d have good onscreen chemistry. Plus, viewers love him.”

“Oh, right.”

Now the picture of disheartenment, Ryan pulled himself out of the chair and began the short walk back around to the other side of their shared desk. As he sat down, Shane peered over the top of the computer screens, a little puzzled as to why his suggestions of Steven and Jen had gone down so badly with his colleague. Ryan looked back at him, finding it much harder to see over the enormous monitors without the height advantage Shane and his ultra-lanky limbs had.

“What?”

Shane shrugged, “you seem unhappy with my suggestions. I thought you liked Jen.”

“I do.”

“Did you already ask her or something?”

“No, I haven’t really asked anyone yet I guess.”

A moment of silence passed before the two sank back into their chairs and continued their respective projects. Or they tried to, but something was off about the mood around them now – and that was weird for two reasons.

On Ryan’s side of the desk, he had expected Shane not to want to work with him. He’d gone into this expecting disappointment and he’d fully prepared himself to take the news that Shane hated working with him badly. Honestly this was more about closure than anything: he’d been harbouring this almost crush-type-thing for Shane Madej for months now and he was just seeking the confirmation that they’d never be more than colleagues, the confirmation that he needed so he could just move on with his life and focus his attention elsewhere. So yeah, while Plan A had been to work with Shane until their friendship blossomed into something more and they lived happily ever after, Plan B had been the crushing defeat of Plan A that opened the door to the post-Shane aspect of his life. And now he had neither. Shane hadn’t outright turned him down. He’d just avoided his part in this little game altogether. And for three days now Ryan had convinced himself this Thursday was the day that everything would change and now? Now he was back to where he’d started.

And on the flipside was Shane Madej. Shane would happily concede he preferred the company of humans to that of his kin, hence his presence in the world of the living, but despite that, he did not particularly develop any feelings of note towards humans. They were his entertainment, had been for the last few centuries when he’d decided the Hell was boring as all fuck and demons were uninteresting buggers – and all that time they were surrounded by human souls who, between bouts of torture and all, would tell such fantastical tales of the world above. And demons were not by any means chained to Hell by contract, they could travel freely if they wished, so in what humans describe as the seventeenth century the demon now known as Shane Madej made his debut on Earth. And since that point in time he’d had a lot of fun with humans. The first couple of hundred years had been a sort of mission to turn more souls over to Hell, but after that he found himself more and more drawn to domesticity. And now with the comforts of the modern era he was perfectly happy making content for Buzzfeed in the body of a man (well, a boy at the time) he’d possessed about fifteen years ago. And it had all been going oh so well until this one Thursday and quite suddenly, in one brief conversation about work, the demon parading as Shane Madej had hurt one of his co-workers quite without meaning to. And he felt… bad. He felt guilty. That was so very un-demon. Demons didn’t know how to feel such things, but he could feel a kind of twisting behind his ribs as the discontent rolled off Ryan in waves and hit him with full force in the chest. If he didn’t feel so awful he’d be laughing at how damn human his reaction was.

The conversation occurred just before half past four in the afternoon, so after another half hour of awkward silence Ryan had excused himself and headed home. With no plans for the evening, Shane found himself working for another three hours until the building’s cleaners were making rounds and trying to lock up for the night. But had he honestly made any progress with his latest feature? No. Not at all. He’d been thinking over the conversation he’d had with Ryan, replaying it relentlessly wondering what he’d said that had so effectively driven down Ryan’s morale. Ryan had come to him for advice concerning his new project. Shane had delivered two viable candidates as required. Then Ryan was in a mood and the afternoon had turned sour. Where had he gone so wrong in that exchange? Rewind, replay, review.

And anyway, besides the fact he’d ruined the end of a perfectly good Thursday for Ryan Bergara, why was it bothering him so much. In previous lives on earth he’d revelled in ruining people’s entire lives to the point where they were utterly unsalvageable, and what now? He couldn’t even handle hurting one human’s feelings? It was utter nonsense. Maybe he didn’t like this because he hadn’t intentionally hurt his feelings, but then in the hundreds of ears he’d spent on Earth it was very unlikely that this was the first occurrence in which this had happened. Maybe it was because Ryan Bergara was a friend.

Was Ryan a friend? Sure they talked a lot and worked on stuff together all the time, but the proximity of their desks made that so. But did they see each other outside of work? Actually, they did. They went to the same parties as each other, frequented bars with the same group of colleagues. On occasion they’d been in each other’s cars to get to these meet ups. And then sometimes, actually a lot of the time, they had lunch together. And now he thought about it, even though he wasn’t big on birthday and Christmas celebrations, Ryan always got him a card. Maybe Ryan considered him a friend. Maybe he considered Ryan a friend. Maybe he wanted to ask Ryan if they were friends, just to check. He didn’t.

So he’d hurt his friend’s feelings. Big deal. Well, apparently it was. What was he now, the nicest demon ever to walk the Earth? A friendly neighbourhood entity made of shadow and pain?

Oh; and then it clicked. Repeat, replay, review. Ryan hadn’t come to him asking for advice on who should co-host the show at all, he’d tried to ask Shane to do it. Well now he felt stupid, how hadn’t he seen that earlier! But then why should he be asking Shane to work with him – oh right, the ‘friends’ thing. So now he was looking at the facebook messenger app on his phone, and he’d only messaged Ryan a handful of times but the poor guy probably wanted to know if Shane would do the show.

Although he wasn’t actually sure he wanted to do the show…

 

 

_Ryan Bergara_

_21:38_

Uh, Ryan??  
When you asked me about ur show today, did you mean that  
 u wanted me to co-host?

…yeah…

Cool

Do you want to do it?

I mean  
idk what’s ur plan for the future here?

Okay so first there’s season 1  
We haven’t finished filming it and Brent’s already said he   
can’t do another episode.  
I’d need to be filming for next week.  
And I’m pretty sure I want to half and half it with true crime   
and supernatural stuff

Like… ghosts?

Ghost hunting, demonic activity, that sort of stuff yeah  
I shouldn’t really be telling you this unless you sign on for the show  
But I’ve got the go ahead for a 45min piece on the supernatural  
I’m looking at going to this place with a ton of demonic activity.  
It’s called the Sallie House?? You may know it.

 

 

From a Buzzfeed producer and content maker point of view, Ryan was really onto something. Combing the allure of true crime and the supernatural? That pandered straight to the needs of mystery thirsty millennials, it was absolute genius. And shining a light on some of America’s darkest and most feared locations just topped the whole thing off – the Sallie House was a character in of itself on most ghost hunting channels in the US (not a fact he was proud of knowing, but one that he knew regardless). But then from a demonic point of view, was it safe for him to expose himself to ghost and demon hunts when he’d so successfully hidden the truth for literal centuries? No, it probably wasn’t. But damn if he didn’t like the element of challenge that offered, and perhaps getting back in contact with the underworld would be a worthwhile venture – and that aside Ryan was his friend and even if it wasn’t a very demon thing to think, he owed his service to such a good friend. Before he knew it his fingers were dancing across the keyboard of his phone.

 

 

_Ryan Bergara_

Ryan, I’d be honoured to co-host this show with you.

Really?  
Shane that’s great!  
And you’re okay starting filming asap?

Whenever’s good for you.

Well I can’t do it for tomorrow and I have a different project to  
work on for Monday, but if we can get this thing filmed on Tuesday  
or Wednesday it would be a huge weight off my shoulders.

Wed sounds good.

Great!  


 

Ryan’s hands were shaking a little as he stared down at the screen, his heart thudding just fast enough to be uncomfortable and make him a little sick in the stomach, giddy in the head. One utterly appalling day had quite become an evening of hope and promise. Shane Madej wanted to do Unsolved with him. He probably didn’t hate him so much after all.


	2. Chapter 2

The switch between Brent and Shane was a damn smooth one if Ryan had to say so himself – very little negative feedback from the viewers and a whole lot of love for the new pair’s onscreen chemistry. Just days after the first video with Shane was released, Brent finally moved his shit out of the office and switched teams. And suddenly it didn’t feel all that bad to Ryan – sure he was losing one friend from a team he valued and worked with, but he’d found a new hope for his show in Shane – Shane who even travelled to a location for only their second video together without hesitation. They drove out to the beach together, black SUV surging down the highway to the coastline where Michelle Von Emster had tragically (and utterly horrifically) lost her life, although the question as to how remained… unsolved.

It wasn’t until the two of them were alone on the clifftops together that Ryan found the courage to speak freely. Admittedly there was a whole lot he was holding back from Shane, and by no means was he ready to talk all of it now, but this was where he would start. Checking round once to find their modest crew snacking out of the trunk of their car far enough away that they wouldn’t be overheard, Ryan turned to look at Shane. Despite the warning signs telling of the fall threat, the crumbling cliffs that had claimed several lives in their time, Shane was balanced rather delicately on the edge, eyes closed as he focused on the sun’s dying rays. Ryan almost didn’t want to interrupt the moment – little did he know that his thumping, nervous heartbeat was already drawing Shane’s focus from the ocean view and the warmth of the sun – but he wasn’t about to waste such a convenient opportunity.

“Uh, Shane?”

Shane opened his eyes just enough to see Ryan, tilting his head to the side but leaving his body quite still, “mm?”

“I just wanted to thank you for doing the show.”

“My pleasure.”

Ryan frowned for a moment.

“No really, I’m only two episodes in and I’m loving it. I feel like you’ve really have something with this project and I’m just honoured to be a part of it.”

“You really like it that much?”

Now Shane turned his self completely to the conversation, the traces of doubt in Ryan’s voice tugging at his heartstrings. He’d joined the show to please Ryan. Did Ryan not think he was enjoying himself?

“Yeah, I do. True crime is fascinating and you’re an excellent host.”

Ryan blushed, averting his eyes from Shane’s features, the hay, amber way the sunset lit them.

“And you’re okay with big conspiracy theories and ghosts and stuff like that, right?”

“Are you kidding me? Who doesn’t like dumb conspiracies?”

“But the ghosts though…”

Shane shrugged, “what about them?”

Ryan swallowed his fear of Shane’s judgement, because this was a conversation they had to have, right? He couldn’t walk into a haunted house and not have fessed up to Shane.

“Aren’t you frightened by them?”

Shane buried the laugh deep inside of him. A demon? Frightened by ghosts? That was… well it was ridiculous. But he had to remember his angle here, the sceptic, the disbeliever. And also laughing might hurt Ryan’s feelings. He’d had enough of hurting Ryan’s feelings.

“No. It’s difficult to be frightened by ghosts when you don’t believe in them.”

“Right. Obviously.”

Ryan’s gaze was still trained on the ground, his heartbeat still uncomfortably quick.

“Do ghosts frighten you?”

“Don’t laugh.”

“I’m not laughing.”

If it was anyone else, Shane thought, it would be hard to keep a straight face. But with the sheer aura of fear vibrating about his being, and Shane’s desperate (and alarming, and new) want to keep Ryan from feeling bad in just about any capacity, he couldn’t find it in himself to give even the most pitiful chuckle.

“I’ve just seen a lot of evidence that ghosts can hurt people. That scares me.”

In Shane’s head, he got down on his knees and promised that no ghosts would ever hurt Ryan. Not that the majority of ghosts held enough power to do any real damage to a human being.

“And demons. I know it all sounds like crazy talk to you but it is widely accepted that demons are more powerful entities and are a lot more capable of attacking the living.”

Well he wasn’t wrong. Not at all. But Shane couldn’t say that. Shane had to play a role instead. SO he shrugged, made a vague noise of scepticism.

“We’ll be fine.”


	3. Chapter 3

_Ryan Bergara_

_23:49_

U up Shane?

Yes

So remember the 45min special we get to do for Unsolved?

How could I forget?

Boss wants it brought forward for a pre-Halloween release  
I’m talking just days outside of Halloween itself.  
Which means we’ve had to bring the filming schedule forward.  
I’ve got tickets for flights, I just need to know that you’re in.

When is filming happening?

We start on Monday.

Monday?  
Well I actually have a bunch of work to do this week and  
You know what? Fuck it.  
Count me in!

For real?  
Shit I thought I’d have to drag someone else into this.  
Tysm!!

Ryan you don’t have to thank me – I love doing Unsolved.  
Can’t wait to hunt ‘ghosts’

As much as your scepticism pisses me off I know deep down  
that it’s good for the show and adds credibility to any evidence  
we get.  
But honestly I can’t wait to prove you wrong.

I promise to walk into this with a relatively open mind.  
Consider the door to my mind to be ajar.

I’ll take it!  
But honestly thanks so much for sticking by me. I thought  
that losing Brent would mean the end of my show and you’ve  
made it possible for this project to continue. I’m so fucking  
grateful you’ve been here for me.

No biggie pal, it’s what friends do for each other.  
Right?

Yeah.  
So were friends now? We’ve graduated beyond colleagues?

I’m about to spend a bunch of days sharing hotel rooms  
with you. Yeah I’d say we’ll need to be friends for this.

Good point.

_00:38_

Shane?

Yeah?

I’m glad were friends.

So am I.

_10:43_

So I have my suitcase out…  
Care to tell me the plan so I know what to pack?

Oh shit yeah  
So Monday we drive up to the church to meet father Thomas

A priest Ryan? Really?

First of all, he’s gonna clear up some myths and truths about  
ghosts and demons.

I’ll pretend like that made any sense.

And secondly I have a favour to ask. But all you have to do is  
be present for the interview. Sit in the church, act like your  
listening, try not to make fun of his beliefs.

I will be on my best behaviour.

So the afternoon and evening will be for shooting at the  
Winchester mystery house. It’s pretty haunted and very  
spooky, a really popular place for ghost hunters and shit  
and it’s not so far away.  
Then we drive to the airport, stay whatever is left of the night  
in a hotel, then fly the next day to Mexico. We have a free night  
in the city, then the next day and the evening will be spent going  
to and filming at the infamous island of dolls. Very creepy location  
and pretty haunted also. We get a guy from Buzzfeed Mexico  
to help us out down there too.  
Then we fly in the early hours to Topeka airport and drive through  
the day to reach the Sallie house. We should reach there by late  
afternoon/evening and we are staying the night there (sleeping  
bag is essential). Then we drive to Topeka airport the next  
morning and fly home.  
Review the footage and begin editing on Friday if we feel up to  
it.

Right. So comfy layers?

You really whittled down my carefully planned out trip to a  
variety of climates to ‘comfy layers.’

I’m a practical guy.  
What can I say?

I suppose.  
Also leave just some room in your luggage for equipment.  
We have a two piece crew for this and they might  
not be able to carry it all.

Gotcha.  
Wait  
Are we all in one room at the hotels?

Haha no.  
We had to go with the cheapest set up, obviously.  
We share a room at the airport and in Mexico  
The crew will stay in a hotel while we spend the night  
in the Sallie house. We have to do our own sound and  
shit for that.

I’m sure we’ll manage

That’s the plan.  
Unless you have an issue sharing with me?

Should I?

Uhhhh… maybe?  
What if I get like nightmares from the ghosts or something?

Unlikely. Not something I’m worried about.

Well I’ve never been told I snore or anything so you should  
be good I guess.

Alright.

Should I be worried about sharing with you?

No???  
I don’t think I warrant worrying about.  
Not that I share rooms often.

Not even with girlfriends?

No  
I haven’t ever really had a girlfriend though.

You’re thirty-one and you’ve never had a girlfriend?

…yes…

Are you a commitment-phobe or something?

I don’t think so.  
Guess I just don’t think about relationships often.  
I’ve put a lot of my energy into my career for the last few  
years. I guess I just kind of side-lined that sort of thing.

So you haven’t had a relationship in years?

I realise that now I’m saying this it looks bad  
But that does appear to be the case.  
I haven’t had more than three dates with any one person  
in approximately six years.

Now that’s a statistic.  
Idk Shane I’m a little shocked.

Shocked?  
Did someone tell you I was involved with someone?

Not particularly. You just come off as a well adjusted  
guy in his early thirties who has his life together. That  
sort of stereotype always automatically comes with a  
girlfriend.

Really?

Well if I’m honest it’s less a girlfriend and more of a  
fiancé.  
You know, like Keith.

I mean  
Eugene is also thirty-one and well adjusted and has  
his life together and he is notorious for being pretty  
single.

First of all, Eugene is not well adjusted. Dude has issues  
and he’s said as much on camera for the internet. Secondly  
he’s a very career focused kind of guy and you seem less that  
way? Like you care, but your career doesn’t define you? And  
thirdly, it is far more acceptable not to be engaged by thirty  
if you're queer in some capacity.

Compelling points, all of them.  
So we must assume that I’m either mal adjusted,  
that I secretly care about my career far more than I  
let on, or I’m gay?

If my theory is to be believed, then yes.

Right.  
So which are you?

I’m sorry what?

Well you’re nearly thirty.

For all you know I could be engaged.

You’re single.

How would you know?

You have your family as your phone background, no framed  
photos on your desk, you never bring anyone to parties and  
nights out and you’re always free in the evenings even when  
the night is a spontaneous one with no planning at all. That’s just  
a handful of the evidence.

I don’t know if that’s creepy or genius.

I keep tabs on everyone I guess.

That’s creepy.

Are you suggesting that it would be less creepy if I only kept tabs  
on you?

Okay I take it back. That would be creepier for sure.  
But you are right. I’m single.

So are you mal adjusted, career driven, or gay?

You know I’m single from a handful of behaviour patterns  
but can’t decide between those three completely different  
and fairly obvious things?

Do you want me to try and guess? It may mean I reveal more  
of my ‘creepy’ and extensive knowledge of your life.

Shit man idk.  
Well anyway I asked first, which are you?  
Are you trying to avoid the question??

No, I just don’t think it’s fair I tell you when you haven’t  
even tried to guess.

Okay, how about you take a guess at me  
and while you do that, I’ll guess at you. Fair?

Right.  
Okay.  
Let’s see…  
I don’t know a lot about your family or upbringing. But I  
have heard you speak to your parents on occasion and you  
put your brother on your social media. You likely have a good  
relationship with your family so I assume your childhood wasn’t  
particularly traumatic. And with no major trauma in your adult life  
that I’ve seen and no other evidence saying otherwise, maybe  
aside from the ghosts thing, you seem well adjusted.

Well you seem well adjusted. I know even less  
about your family. You… have a brother? I think?  
That tells me nothing. Maybe you don’t mention them  
because you don’t get on with your family. But then I  
feel like plenty of guys don’t talk about their family, and  
we aren’t really that close and haven’t discussed family  
before so really I can’t assume anything. And now I’d feel  
bad if I said nothing traumatic has happened to you because  
really I can’t be sure. So entirely on instinct I assume you are  
well adjusted.

I guess sometimes instinct is… good?

Okay well I would say I’m pretty well adjusted.

I think adjustment is difficult to measure objectively.  
Although if family relations are anything to go by I’d say  
I have a pretty normal relationship with my parents and  
brother. Sometimes I’ll take a weekend out to go and see them.

Well at least I got the brother bit right.

He’s called Finn. You’d probably find him… tall.

That’s rude.

And it’s beside the point.  
Onto ambition.  
You care about your job a lot, probably more than I do. Buzzfeed  
seems to have been a goal for you and now you’re just pushing  
yourself to the top. But is career the be all and end of all of your  
life? No. You enjoy a varied social life and you give dating a try  
every once in a while.

Well I guess it’s nice you think of my social life as  
‘varied’ if nothing else.  
And from that confession I can assume you’re not a secret  
workaholic.

I am not.

Well that only leaves the gay theory.

It does.

So… are you gay?

I am if your theory holds water.  
And so are you for that matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Call me lazy for writing an entire chapter in text format, but really it's a coping mechanism.


	4. Life Update

Hi. Don't mean to disappoint but this is not a new chapter, this is just a message to anyone hanging around on this fic. I've said several times I've meant to update this fic, and I promise you that every time I said that I meant to update it .So this is me explaining to you why I haven't updated.

Last November I lost my grandad. It was a very difficult time for me and my family and I managed to keep writing through it .I was very proud of myself for that. But after Christmas I was still mourning his loss, and still dealing with a terribly chaotic family (I will not go into details), and was working through the last months of my first year of uni. I stopped writing to focus on uni. In these months I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition I'vebeen struggling with and mistreated for for literally years. This was a lot.

I think I said I'd write a chapter in July, but i was house hunting desperately. I needed a house for September and had lost more than eleven houses since Christmas. This was stressful. And it was in this time that my grandmother also passed away. As of August it has also conspired that my mother has stage three cancer.

So to the people sending me messages of harassment, bitter that I'm not updating;

Firstly that's incredibly rude to say to any fanfic author. You aren't paying us to write, we aren't contracted to produce content for your consumption. It takes serious time and effort on the author's part to write this stuff and you have no right to pursue me or anyone else when your regular updates don't happen. 

Secondly, not everything is about you. Yeah it sucks when fanfics are left unfinished, but I can garuntee my life sucks infinitely more right now. I've lost two grandparents, my mum is literally fighting for her life, and I'm staring down a second year of uni on yet more new medication and new therapies to try. That considered, I think it's reasonable I haven't updated this fic, or any other. 

To anyone else holding out on updates, I would love to return to my writing. But right now I just don't have the time or inate motivation to write. I'm barely writing original content and poetry for myself, never mind writing I'd publish here. Maybe if you bear with me I'll manage to get back into writing, but I cannot make any promises. I hate to disappoint, but that's just how it is right now.

J.


End file.
